Miscellaneous

Using a herbal remedy to give birth quickly

Q: Last year I gave birth and an African Muslim woman who I trust told me about a herbal remedy for speeding up the birth and dilating. She told me that she soaks maryam flower and drinks it like a tea 2 weeks before the due date. I did this and everything was okay. Allah Ta'ala granted me a quick natural birth.

This year I am going to give birth again but my sister in law sent me a post that she read about people saying that they use maryam flower for prosperity and wealth and so on. Basically, like witchcraft or something. I'm not sure now and I am scared to use it after reading this post.

I want to know if its okay for me to use it as a herbal remedy like I did the last time or should I stay away from it?

Meaning of "murat"

Q: When I attended maktab madrasah, I always heard about murat and I didn't understand anything about it and now when I am teaching maktab I keep telling my kids to cover up the eyes.

Can I have an explanation and if there are any benefits in covering the eyes?

Keeping dogs

Q: I owned a dog, although I don't currently have one. I became aware of the Hadith that keeping dogs as pets is prohibited, they may be kept for security reasons or as a guide dog for the blind. Based on this, I gave the dog to a person who would care for it and keep it since I acquired it as a pet.

However I borrow the dog from this person once a week, sometimes I borrow it for 1-2 hrs per week. Since childhood I had this wish to keep a dog although I didn’t know till now it was prohibited. I don’t allow the dog in the house while I borrow it. I also wear a tracksuit made of polyester material so that if the dogs saliva comes into contact, I can purify it with soil 7 times. In addition, I have also trained the dog to not lick.

Now with regards to keeping of dogs you may ask me why I’m keeping a dog and I know it’s haram that’s why I have given it to somebody who can care for it but during the week I sometimes play with it since I always had this wish to play with dogs and InshaAllah, I will try my best to get rid of this haram desire but until then can I keep the dog in this way until I’m no longer interested in this dog. 

Helping one's parents if they are in need

Q: If parents have the financial means and large amounts of savings, do the parents have the right to pressurise their children to provide free meals for them - and save their own money or give their own money to Pakistan.

We know that we have to be kind and should not say uff to our parents but do parents have a right to do this? Even with their daughters who are married? Please could you let us know.